Keep or Kut – This early in the season, a lot of numbers lie to you, but changes in K-rate, BB-rate and pull percentage for hitters can be telling. Pete (@PeteBBaseball) and Chad (@ChadYoung) look at some of the biggest changes in baseball across those three stats. Join Pitcher List Plus and get an ad-free website and access to the Pitcher List Discord community, while supporting the podcast.
Timestamps
3:56 – Five most improved k-rates: Gio Urshela, Joey Wendle, Yordan Alvarez, Alec Bohm, and Javy Báez. The drop in K’s for Javy is a surprise, and there are reasons to doubt it’s validity.
10:48 – Five biggest increases in strikeout rate: Carson Kelly, Franmil Reyes, Tucker Barnhart, Jarred Kelenic, and Carlos Correa. Should we just wait on Reyes?
14:48 – What to do about Kelenic.
21:14 – Biggest year over year gains in walk rate: Jesus Aguilar, Jesse Winker, Eduardo Escobar, Michael A. Taylor, and Anthony Santander, including a deep dive on Santander and a detour to Alec Bohm.
31:02 – Biggest drops in walk rate: Carson Kelly (again), Shohei Ohtani, Jonathan India, Bryce Harper, and Yasmani Grandal
38:34 – Biggest increases in pull rate: Ryan McMahon, Jurickson Profar, Rhys Hoskins, Charlie Blackmon, and Eric Hosmer. We’re not ready to sell Profar.
47:04 – But we aren’t buying Hosmer either.
50:39 – Biggest decreases in pull rate: Joey Wendle, Brad Miller, Wil Myers, Andrew McCutchen, and Mike Zunino. Zunino with power is a poor man’s Salvador Perez, but otherwise…
58:34 – Anthony Rizzo and the short porch
1:05:05 – Lightning Round! Featuring: Julio Rodriguez, Randy Arozarena, Willy Adames, Trey Mancini, Jose Berrios, Framber Valdes, Tyler Mahle, and Trevor Rogers.